Sweden’s Borg urged to return to job

Anders Borg, the former finance minister of Sweden, has been urged to return to his job in an editorial published by the country’s main business daily Dagens Industri, in the wake of a snap election called for 22 March following a breakdown in parliamentary budget negotiations.

Sweden went to the polls in September this year, following which a minority coalition government made up of the Social Democrat and Green parties was appointed.

However, negotiations over the budget with other parties in Parliament failed after the anti-immigrant Sweden Democrats said they would not support the proposed budget, and members of the previous right of centre coalition government said they would not support the budget unless it contained more concessions to their own policy positions.

The budget has to be passed by a majority vote in Parliament, hence the call for snap elections, the first time this has happened in half a century.

It is in this context that DI has called for the return of Anders Borg (pictured), voted Europe’s best finance minister by the Financial Times in 2011.

“He declared loudly following the election that he is leaving politics, but that was under the conditions that applied then. And it was not really surprising news, given Anders Borg has steadfastly refused to stand for Parliament. Such a decision means that one does not want to sit in opposition.”

“But now the Alliance [right of centre coaltion] could return to power after the election on 22 March. So Anders Borg should stand.”

The business daily said that not only would a declaration along these lines lift the political party that Borg belongs to, the Moderates, get a lift, but the overall Alliance would too.

“Anders Borg is a very popular politician. In the annual popularity survey conducted by Aftonbladet [another Swedish daily newspaper] last winter he came first, before all other ministers.”

Pan-Nordic Fund Selector Summit

InvestmentEurope is delighted to announce the Pan-Nordic Fund Selector Summit to be held on 10-11 March in Stockholm at the Grand Hôtel Stockholm.

The event will feature a keynote from Carl Bildt, foreign minister in the previous ruling coalition, and former prime minister in the 1990s.

Editorial Director of Open Door Media Publishing Ltd, and Editor of InvestmentEurope.
Jonathan has over two decades of media experience in Japan, Australia, Canada and the UK. Over the past 17 years he has been based in London writing about funds and investments. From editing the newsletter of the Swedish Chamber of Commerce in Japan in the 1990s he now focuses on Nordic markets for InvestmentEurope. Jonathan was awarded Editor of the Year at the Professional Publishers Association (PPA) Independent Publisher Awards 2017. Shortlisted for the same in 2016, he was also shortlisted in 2017 and 2015 for the broader PPA Awards category Editor of the Year (Business Media).